Kris & Emma’s Space Themed, New Years Eve Wedding in Arlington, VA

“[We] were very focused on making our wedding exactly what we wanted. Our motto was that, “There are no have-to’s.”

So Kris and Emma (together they are Kremma) decided to have a New Years Eve wedding bash with an oh-so-excellent SPACE theme! Seriously, this wedding rocks so hard. Thanks to Leo Druker Photography for sharing his images! Take it away Kremma!

Wedding philosophy: Kris and I (together, we’re Kremma) were very focused on making our wedding exactly what we wanted. Our motto was that, “There are no have-to’s.” Neither of us is very traditional, and we wanted the wedding to really feel like “us.” We absolutely resonate with Bree’s statement on her wedding post that, “you don’t HAVE to do what everyone else does when it comes to your wedding. You really can do exactly what YOU want to do, and still have the best day of your life.” Bravo!

We are huge space/sci-fi/aviation nerds. We met at the International Space University (we swear – it’s real). I have a degree in Space Policy and work at NASA Headquarters. Kris is an emergency doctor who also specializes in aerospace medicine. Space is a shared passion of ours, and many of our friends work in the industry as well. It wouldn’t have been “us” without a few spacey and sci-fi elements.

Click inside for SO MUCH MORE of Kris & Emma’s space themed, New Years Eve wedding!

Why we chose the Renaissance Arlington Capital View: The staff is amazing, the food is great, the architecture is modern and just our style, and it overlooks the DCA airport so we got to see planes landing and taking off. (Which made it easy to do some photos at Gravelly Point.) The Renaissance was absolutely perfect, and we were thrilled with everything. They also gave our guests a great rate, if they were staying in the hotel.

We didn’t have a wedding party, we asked for no speeches, and our families don’t live nearby… but our families and friends were such an amazing support network throughout the planning and the day itself. Also, we both had two parents walk us down the aisle.

Ceremony: I was, for whatever reason, really worried about the ceremony. I believe that it was because, when you ask most people what their favorite memory is of their wedding day, they say the ceremony. That’s the moment that’s supposed to matter the most. Our officiant Jeff “got us” from the very beginning. He understood our philosophy AND our nerdiness, bringing the perfect amount of geek references, humor, and emotion into the ceremony. There was even a call-and-response part of the ceremony with our guests, ending with, “So say we all!’

Why we chose New Year’s Eve: Our first date was on New Year’s Eve in 2008/9. I don’t understand all of the NYE hate – we’ve always had a blast, and just wanted to create a crazy fun party for our friends and family. Ringing in the new year as newly official husband and wife just sounded perfect.

Reception: The tables were named after spaceships (both fictional and real) and we had a photo booth with a space backdrop. And I suppose not doing many traditional things (no cake, no speeches, no bouquet toss) was a bit offbeat, but went along with our philosophy. Instead of cutting a cake, we did a little ceremonial champagne cork pop. Oh, and kudos to our DJ Bobby Jae for going along with our nontraditional-ness, for example by not playing any line dancing tunes and being willing to play DMX’s “Party Up” at a wedding…

Neither one of us is very crafty, but we found amazing vendors and also had our friends step in. For example, I’ve always loved a sculpture named “Ad Astra,” which is outside of the National Air & Space Museum on the National Mall in DC. I found a metal artist named Lisa on Etsy, sent her a photo, and asked if she could make small centerpieces inspired by that sculpture. They turned out amazing, and guests also took them home at the end of the night as favors. Also, we LOVED having Leo’s photo booth – for the backdrop, we chose a NASA astrophysics image and ordered a custom backdrop from Photo Pie. For the props, we brought in a lot of stuff from home (like a Darth Vader helmet) and also asked friends to bring whatever they thought would be fun.

The most incredible handmade detail, however, has to be the Kremma Cardbot. Our friends Stephanie and Arthur, along with Steph’s mom Cynthia, made an amazing 5-foot tall robot for the card box. By the end of the night, the cardbot was in the photo booth and out on the dance floor.

Um. Amazing. Right? Like I am pretty sure everyone needs a Robot card box in their wedding from here on out!! Congratulations Kris & Emma! Thank you for sharing your FABULOUS space-themed, New Years Eve wedding with us! A special thanks again to Leo Druker for sharing his images of today’s Virginia wedding feature.